03/31/2011

Ruff Treatment

Tara Walton - Staff Photographer

There are a lot of great things about being a news photographer, but by far one of my favourites is watching others interact with the photos published in the Star. I find myself doing this at cafes and restaurants, while on the TTC or the train, in Toronto and anywhere else the newspaper is delivered. Just a few days ago I was filing an assignment from a coffee shop in Richmond Hill. I noticed a woman to my left flipping though the paper. Ten minutes later she erupted in laughter. The couple sitting at the table across from her looked up from their laptops as she flipped the paper around and pointed out a photo on the front of the Business section. "This is great! It's the Finance Minister with his dog. Look at what the dog is doing to the poor photographer! It's just great!"

The other couple smiled, and so did I.

The photo was the work of my colleague, Vince Talotta. He had photographed Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan walking his dog through Queen's Park the morning he was to deliver the Ontario budget. The dog, as it shows in the photo, was not too happy with Vinny.

I'm always amazed at how such simple moments can inspire and change the mood of others. It was nice to see someone smile and pass that moment on to two complete strangers. Nice photo Vinny!

It's sad and wrong that people look at that picture and laugh. If it were a pit bull type dog, or a Rottie or German Shepherd, the reaction would be "Oh, what a monster!" When Mr. Duncan's dog bites someone, will it still be funny? Maybe he should muzzle HIS dog, too, like countless responsible owners in Ontario have to do to their balanced, friendly dogs because of the ridiculous ban he voted for. BSL = Brainless Slaughter Legalized.

Seems to me that Mr. Duncan's dog should be muzzled in public. Duncan was for the introduction of BSL, he is partly responsible for the muzzling in public of dogs who have done nothing but be born pit bulls. look at HIS dog! That dog's body language clearly screams aggression, but Duncan obviously thinks the dog's behavior is funny. There is nothing funny about an agressive dog acting in a manacing fashion in public no matter WHAT that dog's breed is. Thanks Mr. Duncan for illustrating our point so clearly that it is not just pit bulls! All dogs are capable of agression no matter what their breed and it is the OWNER in this case the finance minister, that should be held accountable if the dog bites. Personally I think that until Mr. Dincan has a handle on acting like a responsible dog owner himself he has no right to judge anyone elses dog!